The Ethiopian diaspora especially those who live or grew up in America, Europe, Australia even in Israel, South Korea etc did not need permission to come out in large number and expressed their dismay in what they saw and heard about the plight of their fellow citizens in Saudi Arabia.
The rallies mostly in front of Saudi Embassies or Consular Offices were impressive not only in number but in bringing different people with religious, ethnic background or political persuasions together. Even Eritreans participated in some of these rallies. Even though these rallies were unprecedented and impressive, I have mixed feeling about them.
On one hand, I am glad to see some members of our community including my friends getting involved in matters that goes beyond themselves, their families or houses of faith. These were people who were quick to say 'ine politika alwedim' with their twisted understanding of politics. Seeing them coming out in big number to show solidarity and to condemn the barbaric act against fellow citizens is encouraging.
On the other hand, I was disturbed by the selective moral outrage that I am witnessing among my friends and many well meaning members of our community. If Ethiopians are beaten & thrown out to jail by their own government, why are we surprised/angered when other foreign governments or individuals ill treated our fellow citizens? In terms of scale who committed the worst offenses? I wonder what would be our answer if those parents whose children were killed by security forces of the current regime during 2005 protests ask us how come we chose to ignore their pain & loss?
Based on track record, I also doubt if these periodic
manifestations of outrage & staging rallies would have bigger impacts or bring long
standing solutions. Only sustained
campaign until demands are met can bring about changes and waging a
sustained campaign requires skills. One way of developing such skills is
learning the basic tenets of advocacy or learning from others who had
made successful campaigns. For that to happen humility i.e. saying that I
do not know, but I am ready to learn comes first. First of all such
virtue is lacking in our community. Secondly, even if one expresses
willingness, often what I hear is "it is good for long term but can not
be solution for current crisis". My answer is the things you learn
every step of the way would make you think of the solution differently
than you had original thought. It is better to take the baby steps now,
than dealing with crisis unprepared. We have seen the alternative. Ad
hoc or quickly assembled periodical mass rallies, emotional speeches etc.. may make us
feel good but have they made real impacts? Ask yourself, if some of us
have developed our skills earlier, do you think the current rallies
in front of Saudi Embassies would be conducted in such a way? Personally, I do not
think so. Without going into details, it could have been waged differently. A skillful campaign would have worked out its demands (short term & large term) and based on that devise actions which escalate or grow in intensity starting from cordial meeting with Embassy officials, to various forms of rallies and direct action measures. Few points when considering the next step (sustained campaign) or long term solutions:- Making rallies as individuals or pairs on rotating basis. But this could have been better if it was incorporated in the original rallies campaign plan with definite objective and demands.
- Once temporary measures are taken and some of the demands are met, working toward convening a meeting between community organizations and invited experts on migrants rights such as the person interviewed by Tadias in this article or Washington representatives of International Office of Migration (IOM), International labor Organization (ILO), UNHCR, UN office for Migration etc.. to learn about migrant workers rights and discuss things we can do to help them.